Thursday, February 24. 2011
The problem with trying to do something exceptionally well is that it is much easier to be average, and for some people and most organizations, that is acceptable. Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great starts out with the sentence, “Good is the enemy of great.” The older and more experienced I become, the more I understand the truth and the depth of that statement, and the more terrifying it becomes.
Excellence isn’t easy. In sports, academics, or your workplace, if you want to be excellent, you have to spend the time, do the hard work, make sacrifices, and visualize the success that hasn’t happened yet… even as others are trying to convince you that things are already good enough, or possibly that you aren’t good enough. Some folks are content with just getting things done, or maybe they are struggling to manage an ever increasing workload, so going that extra mile to acieve excellence is just too daunting …but what do you do when you want to do things better than the status quo?
Teachers are asked to entertain a roomful of students, teach required materials, in a specific timeframe, and then graduate as many as possible. They are forced to “teach to the middle” hoping to reach as many as possible, hoping that they will all do “good enough” to pass. But what about the student wants to ask more questions, or probe for a deeper understanding, and engage in the subject? Many times they are dismissed in an effort to get through the material, or they are labeled as a “problem” student. Lesson plans are completed, the material is delivered, progress is reported, and over time many good students get the message that good enough is OK…and we have become very good at producing a lot of good students, many with unrealized potential.
In the workplace it is all too common to “manage to the middle.” With union contracts, legal departments, and increasing demands on productivity, it becomes impossible to even think about doing more, or seeking methods for doing it better. The entire workforce becomes fixated on just “getting things done” or “getting through it,” so they can get home to complain about it. Performance appraisals are geared to keep the average employee, and reward the real performers with more duties and even shorter deadlines. Being “excellent” is a sure way to attract more duties, at the same pay as the average worker…so the message becomes clear; good enough is OK to keep your job, while avoiding additional work.
…And then there is the world of the entrepreneur where “Good enough” can cause you to go out of business! A small business owner has to strive for perfection every day. While they are constantly constrained by too little time and money, an entrepreneur has to deliver an exceptional product, provide excellent customer service, and entice clients to return again, in a marketplace that demands excellence from its small business suppliers. Is that even possible? Isn’t that too hard? Too risky? What were they thinking?
I say that entrepreneurs are America’s last line of defense in the war on excellence. They have mustered the courage to leave the world of “good enough” and accept the challenge to be held accountable for excellence every day. Entrepreneurs are willing to do more with less, accomplish the impossible, defy the odds, and risk their life savings for the opportunity to show up every day and deliver. They are willing to compete for your business with no guarantee that things will work like they dreamed, or even that they will be able to do it again tomorrow. People love to cite statistics on small business failures, or speak eloquently about the vital role that small businesses play in our nation’s economy, however, when it comes to supporting them with patronage, providing them access to funding, or even giving them opportunities to earn new business, increasingly our society seems to be willing to accept…good enough… the enemy of great.